A gunman tried to assassinate Turkish journalist Can Dundar, the editor-in-chief of Cumhuriyet –the main opposition paper of Turkish president Erdogan gpvernment outside a courthouse where he was on trial accused of exposing state secrets.

The shooter yelled 'traitor!' and took several shots at Can Dundar, before he was subdued. Dundar's wife and a stranger bystander help preventing shooter to kill Dundar.

He escaped unharmed but Yagiz Senkal, a journalist working for the private NTV television station was shot in the leg.

After this attack, he and his co-defendant Erdem Gul - the paper's Ankara bureau chief - were both sentenced to five years in prison for treason.

Dramatic footage and pictures showed the gunman brandishing a silver pistol at a cowering Dundar before his wife Dilek and the police wrestled him to the ground.

Dundar was waiting outside the courthouse while judges decided on a verdict when he was attacked.

The Dogan news agency named the attacker as 40-year-old Murat Sahin, who is believed to have a criminal record.

'I don't know who the attacker is but I know who encouraged him and made me a target,' Dundar said after the attack.

Dundarand his wife

His comments are thought to have been aimed at the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and others who have called for him to be punished.

Last year Cumhuriyet published images of Turkish trucks carrying ammunition to Syrian militants.
The paper held up the images as proof that Turkey was smuggling arms to rebel groups fighting in Syria.